In accordance with the recent trend toward miniaturization of electronic products, multilayer ceramic electronic components have also been required to have a small size and large capacitance.
Therefore, various methods for decreasing thicknesses of dielectric layers and internal electrodes and increasing the number of dielectric layers and internal electrodes have been attempted, and, recently, the number of multilayer ceramic electronic components, in which thicknesses of dielectric layers are decreased and the number of stacked dielectric layers is increased, that have been manufactured, has continued to increase.
In addition, as external electrodes have also been required to have a decreased thickness, a problem in which a plating solution permeating the multilayer ceramic electronic component through the external electrodes having the decreased thickness may occur, such that it is technically difficult to miniaturize the multilayer ceramic electronic component.
In particular, in a case in which shapes of the external electrodes are non-uniform, a risk that the plating solution will penetrate into thin portions of the external electrodes is further increased, such that a problem occurs in securing reliability.
Meanwhile, in a case of forming the external electrodes by an existing dipping method, or the like, which is a method of forming the external electrodes, the external electrodes are formed on all head surfaces, corresponding to end surfaces of a body in a length direction of the body, and four surfaces (hereinafter, referred to as “band surfaces”) contacting the head surfaces, and it is difficult to uniformly apply a paste for an external electrode, due to generation of dispersion in the body and fluidity and viscosity of the paste, such that a difference in a thickness of the applied paste is generated.
In addition, the plating solution penetrates into a portion in which the paste is thinly applied, due to a decrease in density of the portion, such that reliability is reduced, and glass beading or blistering, when glass is exposed to a surface, is generated in a portion in which the paste is thickly applied, such that a thickness of a plating layer should be increased in order to solve a plating defect and a shape defect.
Therefore, when an application thickness of the external electrode is thin and uniform, a formation area of the internal electrodes may be increased, such that capacitance may be significantly increased, as compared to an existing capacitor having the same size. Therefore, research into the technology described above has been required.